Thirty-two Republican legislators in Arkansas have introduced HB 1338, which would raise the minor party petition for presidential status from 1,000 to 5,000 signatures. The bill also raises the independent presidential petition from 1,000 to 5,000.
In the November 2020 election, Arkansas had 13 presidential candidates listed. Thanks to Jonathan Makeley for this news.
Snopes has this article about past U.S. political parties that have used the name “Patriot Party.” Some of the groups listed in the article, which is by Jessica Lee, did not actually get on the ballot anywhere. The Patriot Party that did get on the most ballots was the party formed in 1993 by members of the New Alliance Party, in combination with 1992 Ross Perot supporters who wanted to create a new party. It was active mostly in 1994, and was dissolved in 1996 after Ross Perot formed the Reform Party.
Of course the reason people are interested in “Patriot Party” at this time is because of the suggestion by former President Donald Trump that he might possibly support the creation of a new party with that name.
The Snopes article is disappointingly inaccurate when it says, near the bottom, that Ross Perot in 1996 was an “independent candidate” using the name Reform Party. The Reform Party was a bona fide party started in September 1995 by Ross Perot. It had its own nominees for all branches of government, and its own national presidential convention in 1996 in Long Beach, California. It is the only third party that ever received general election public funding. It elected the Governor of Minnesota in 1998.
Ballotpedia has this surprisingly long list of state legislative races from November 2020 that were decided by fewer than 100 votes. One of them, in New Hampshire, was decided by four votes.
There is still no official winner in New York’s U.S. House seat, 22nd district. But as the court proceedings over the vote count proceed, it seems likely that Claudia Tenney, the Republican nominee, will prevail. See this story. Thanks to Joe Burns for the link.
On January 29, the New Hampshire House Election Law Committee held a hearing on HB 97 and HB 98, the bills to move the non-presidential primary from September to an earlier month. One bill puts it in June and the other puts it in August. See this story.
New Hampshire irrationally ties the petition deadline for independent candidates, and the nominees of unqualified parties, to the date of the primary. Advocates of tolerant ballot access testified against the bills. In New Hampshire, committees do not vote on the same day on which they hold hearings, so no one knows yet whether the bills will advance. If the June primary bill passes, that would move the petition deadline, even for independent presidential candidates, from August to May, and the declaration of candidacy deadline from June to March.
